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Product category: Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
News Release from: Texas Instruments (April 2006-) | Subject: MSP430FG461x series
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 25 April 2006

MCUs are ideal
for emerging applications

Texas Instruments is sampling the MSP430FG461x series of ultra-low-power MCUs with up to 120Kbyte Flash memory

Addressing the increasing complexity of deeply embedded applications with new MCUs and increased on-chip Flash memory, Texas Instruments is sampling the MSP430FG461x series of ultra-low-power MCUs with up to 120Kbyte Flash memory. The TMS470R1B1M ARM7-based MCUs with 1Mbyte Flash memory is also now available in commercial volumes.

Memory requirements continue to grow as designers rely more and more on model based software design that allows abstraction from target devices to handle the increasing complexities of their systems.

MSP430 and TMS470 MCUs are ideal for emerging applications that are adding new features and functionality such as advanced user interfaces with multiple language support, voice and speech interfaces, real-time operating systems and wireless networking stacks.

Continuing the MSP430 ultra-low-power MCU portfolio expansion the new MSP43FG461x series of devices is the first to incorporate the MSP430X architecture with an extended 1Mbyte memory model, allowing access to 16 times more memory compared with the 64Kbyte available today.

New extended addressing modes designed for the large memory allow optimal high-level code density with full backward compatibility, making it possible to develop very sophisticated real-time applications completely in modular C libraries.

Using the extended addressing modes, higher C code density and faster execution is achieved reducing the number of cycles by up to 25% when addressing peripherals, Flash, or RAM and more than 50% for a full context store.

As the first MSP430X device, the MSP430FG461x MCU series includes up to 120Kbyte of Flash and up to 8Kbyte RAM, offering a complete signal chain on chip (SCoC) solution ideal for portable medical devices like portable glucose meters, digital pulse oximeters and wireless electrocardiograms that require highly integrated intelligent peripherals and larger memory options on a single chip.

FG461x devices are the most highly integrated MSP430 MCUs to date.

These devices include a 12-channel 200Ksample/s successive approximation register (SAR), 12bit analogue to digital convertor (ADC) with internal voltage reference; two 12bit digital-to-analogue convertors (DACs) with one micro-second code-to-code settling time; three op amps with 5nA input leakage current consumption; a direct memory access (DMA) controller for ultra-low power operation with no CPU intervention; a liquid crystal display (LCD) driver with regulated charge pump; one hardware real time clock featuring calendar and time registers; a 32bit counter and universal serial communications interface (USCI) including UART, IrDA, SPI and I2C.

The FG461x MCU consumes less than 2uA in a real time clock standby mode operation and allows operation from a single coin cell for up to ten years.

The new devices also support multiple low power operating modes with a wake-up time of less than 6us and zero power brown out reset (BOR).

The FG461x MCU series provides designers with pin-for-pin memory migration from the MSP430F449 MCU.

Additional MSP430X-based device introductions are planned throughout 2007.

Available today in volume quantities, the ARM7TDMI based TMS470R1B1M offers 1Mbyte Flash, 64Kbyte RAM, and up to 60MHz of 32bit performance for general purpose applications that include industrial, medical instrumentation, consumer electronics and data processing.

This combination of performance, large on-chip Flash memory, and external memory access allows designers to develop enhanced features like user interfaces that incorporate two-way audio for a home security panel as well as displaying instructions in multiple languages or incorporating a real time operating system (RTOS).

As one of five ARM7-based TI devices with more than 256Kbyte of Flash memory, the TMS470R1B1M MCU is a highly integrated solution including a unique, programmable, 32-channel high-end timer (HET) reduced instruction set computer (RISC) coprocessor for greater accuracy in timing functions like period and pulse measurements, output compare, and pulse width modulations (PWMs).

The HET coprocessor runs in parallel and completely independently of the ARM7 CPU, providing significantly higher system performance.

TMS470 MCUs also include a multi-buffered, 10bit ADC with a 1.55us conversion time and a variety of industry standard peripherals that, like the HET, offload processing from the CPU.

These include two high-end CAN controllers (HECC), five I2C modules, three serial communication interfaces, two serial peripheral interfaces (SPI), and a 16-channel direct memory access (DMA) controller.

Designers interested in learning more about MSP430 MCUs can attend the fourth annual 430 Day held worldwide in 105 cities around the world, starting in May.

Delegates to this free, three hour lunch-and-learn seminar will receive a free eZ430-F2013 complete MCU development tool to take home.

In a compact Universal Serial Bus (USB) stick form factor, the eZ430 tool is the world's smallest complete MCU development and evaluation tool.

TI is also offering seminars in North America designed to familiarise users with the TMS470 MCU starting in late April for $199 per person.

delegates will receive a free TMDS-FET470R1B1M Kickstart development kit to take home.

This development kit is a turnkey integrated environment that includes the TMS470R1B1M MCU processor board and peripheral board with the device signals pinned out, RS232 and CAN connectors, 16 LEDs, a 32 character LCD, four input buttons, an ADC potentiometer, temperature sensor, and prototyping area.

It also has a 16K Kickstart version the IAR Compiler and integrated development environment.

The MSP430FG461x series of MCUs will be available for sampling mid-2006.

In volume, the devices will start at $9.45 per 1000-unit quantities.

TMS470R1B1M MCUs are immediately available in volume and start at $14.95 for 1000-unit quantities.

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